To be eligible to vote in Brunswick County, residents must be 18 years old, a U.S. citizen and must be a legal resident domiciled in Brunswick County and North Carolina for 30 days by the date of the next general election day.

To register to vote, citizenship rights must be restored if ever convicted of a felony. Brunswick County voters cannot vote or be registered to vote in any other county or state.

Environmental health specialists with the Brunswick County Health Department inspected and graded local restaurants and other food establishments during the past month.

Grades are based on a perfect score of 100, with points taken away for infractions of state health standards. A score of 90 or better represents an A, 80-89, B, 70-79, C. Establishments with a score below C would not be allowed to operate.

Establishments which have two scores during the same inspection period have been re-graded at the management’s request.

Many employees at The Coastal Companies donated time and talent to charitable causes.

Laura Shaurer, property manager and broker-in-charge at Coastal Vacation Resorts on Oak Island, is a certified master diver who spends every Sunday volunteering at the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher as a member of their dive team.

Volunteers participate in two dives per day, 364 days a year, answering questions from visitors and educating them about the varied habitats under the sea.

SUPPLY—What started out as a family-owned and operated general store in 1963 and ended its most recent incarnation as a tax preparer’s office three years ago will soon come full circle. It will open again as a family-owned and operated local food and gift market.

After Blanton’s Tax Service on Stone Chimney Road closed in 2005, the large cinder block building off N.C. 211 remained filled with papers, furniture and odds and ends belonging to the Blanton family.

Brunswick County was the only region in the state reporting an increase in the number of existing home sales in August 2008 compared to the previous August, according to statistics from the N.C. Association of Realtors (NCAR).

In August, Brunswick County reported 199 homes sold, compared to 152 the previous year. Local Realtors sold $46,493,454 worth of homes in August, up from $43,360,174 last August.

The numbers were also up slightly over those of the previous month. In July, local Realtors sold 195 homes.

Juneau, Alaska—A Brunswick County man in the U.S. Coast Guard has played a role in the capture of vessel suspected of illegal driftnet fishing.

Jon Smith, a 2007 graduate of West Brunswick High School, was on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter “Munro” when it was involved in seizing a Chinese fishing vessel suspected of illegal large-scale, high-seas driftnet fishing 460 miles east of Hokkaido, Japan.